Location: "You are the poster child for an uninformed brainwashed American" -OmegaConcern

Posts: 20,164

Quote:

Originally Posted by cork_soaker

i took his "conforming" as a reference to the intense cultural pressures driving people to suicide. failure to achieve, and such.

rather than speaking to the location.

this

The phone booth is also an example of cultural norms in Japan that keep people from having meaningful emotional contact with their loved ones. People grow up emotionally repressed. Parents don't tell their children they love them. Kids are taught not to verbalize their emotions. They're unable to express their feelings even while their loved ones are alive. The phone booth gives them an outlet to express those feelings after a death.

It also makes some sense when you consider Shinto traditions. Especially when it comes to deaths like those of people lost during recent tsunami/earthquakes. The family may not have had the opportunity to go through traditional burial/funerary steps. While modern Japan is not nearly as religious as it was just a couple of generations ago, they do still put a lot of effort and weight in funerals. It's much more formal than most western countries

The phone booth is also an example of cultural norms in Japan that keep people from having meaningful emotional contact with their loved ones. People grow up emotionally repressed. They're unable to express their feelings even while their loved ones are alive. The phone booth gives them an outlet to express those feelings after a death